Bow, bow, bye!
by Frogata
Summary: Uh-oh. Will's going to die, he's lost his bow? What will Halt do? Find out! Oneshot.


**A/N: Hi! This is my second fanfic! Hooray! I was sorta encouraged to write another from the reviews I got. Well, here it is!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice, nor any of the characters. **

**Summary: Uh-oh. Will's going to die, he's lost his bow? What will Halt do? Find out!**

**Bow, Bow, Bye!**

Will was leaning against the trunk of his favourite tree near the cabin. It was a thick oak tree, probably 60 or more years old, and it was one of the most relaxing places one could go. Well, that's what Will thought anyway. The sun was warming and refreshing, and breeze supplied never ending fresh air.

Will yawned, and put his bow down next to him, as he drifted into sleep and out of consciousness. It was around early afternoon when he went to sleep, and he slept for about 3 hours. All the while dreaming of his graduation from Ranger training. He awoke with a start and was about to leave, when he noticed something. _Oh no! Where in the world is my bow? _He thought._ Halt is going to murder me! Tan the skin off of my backside! Wring me out like a wet rag!_

Meanwhile...

Halt had been sorting through official documents for over an hour now. He looked up once more, as if expecting Will to burst through the door any moment. When he didn't, Halt got up and made himself a coffee. The week before, he had gone to the market to find not coffee, but _kafay_, the drink that the Arridi made, which was essentially – in Halts mind, anyway – the gifted coffee from heaven. He was so happy when he saw it (though of course he would never show it) that he bought three bags. _Big _bags.

_He better be back soon, _Halt thought. _I've got a huge list of chores for him, I can't be expected to live in a dirty home, now can I? _Halt sat back down in his favourite arm chair, nursing his hot coffee like it was a little puppy dog **(A/N: I couldn't think of anything else, plus it would be funny if Halt were holding a little puppy!)**. It didn't take him long to down it completely, he enjoyed _kafay_ much more than the coffee beans found in Araluen. _Oh that's right; I better hide the kafay from Will. If I don't, it will be gone within the space of two days! _Halt got up again and put the _kafay _into a hole underneath the loose floorboards that he had built years ago if the need ever came up to use it, and on a few occasions, he had used it. Though that was mainly Gilan exhausting his coffee supplies when Gilan was his apprentice.

Will had searched all around the tree, up the tree, other trees, rabbit holes, under rocks, in beehives (Yeah, he was getting pretty frantic), pretty much anywhere, in the hopes that he would find his bow. He even had his quiver, still full, slung over his shoulder. He got up, panting from panic, and ran faster than he thought possible, to the village. He burst into the inn and practically tackled the innkeeper with questions. "Have you seen my bow? Where is it? Do you know where it is? Do you know anybody else who has seen a bow? Cloud you tell me who? Did they pick it up?" Will babbled at the poor, shocked, innkeeper, currently against the wall, in shock from the bombardment of questions. Before he could even answer, Will said "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time, bye!" as he ran out the door again.

Will decided that he could risk running to Battleschool to see Horace. He immediately ran to the dorms, where Horace would most likely be at this time of day, and sprinted inside. Sir Rodney was taking a stroll around the dorms to inspect the living state of the Battleschool apprentices when Will burst in, puffing hard. Sir Rodney raised an eyebrow at the Ranger-to-be as Will almost sprinted towards him. *Huff huff* "Oh- Hi Sir Rodney! Have you seen my b-"He stopped short with that sentence as he realised that the first thing Sir Rodney would do is tell Halt. That would not do, Will still had many years ahead of him where he could be alive. "Erm, have you seen my... Best friend Horace?" He improvised.

"Um, yeah, he's down at the training grounds. May I ask why?"

"Oh! It's nothing! Just wanted a talk that's all!" Will stammered, rushing for the training grounds.

Horace fell over, sides heaving, shoulders trembling, eyes watering, as he nearly died with laughter. "Shut up! I am going to die you know!" Will wined. Horace was gasping like a whale out of water (yes, he was pretty loud) and rolling around on the ground like a fish out of water. Or as Will saw him, a pig in mud.

Stifling a laugh, Horace finally gained the control to speak. "But Will! You're going to die! Pffftahahaaaaa!" As he lost control again, and after picking himself off the ground not so long ago, he fell over once more, laughing like hundreds of little people were tickling him. Will let out a sigh as he realised that he would have to face the inevitable; Halt.

Halt listened intently as he realised that Will was just outside the cabin door. He wondered what his apprentice could possibly be up to, hiding behind the door. "Will, I know you're there, just come in and make me dinner," Halt said, feeling rather hungry. Though he was usually calm, Halt didn't expect Will to practically kick the door down as he burst in. It even made Halt jump a little bit. Will had a mixed look of fear, sadness, more fear and, well, you can get rid of the sadness. Halt thought he looked rather like a little puppy, who was about to be scolded by its master. _Wait a minute, I am his master. Which means that he has done something that he believes is worthy for me to scold him. Hmmm..._

Will took a deep breath before telling Halt what had happened. "I-was-napping-under-a-tree-and-I-fell-asleep-and-I-woke-up-and-my-bow-was-gone-and-I-looked-for-it-and-I-couldn"t-find-it-and-now-you-are-going-to-murder-me-because-I-lost-my-bow-even-though-I-would-prefere-it-if-you-didn't-but-after-what-I-did-I-wouldn"t-mind-if-you-did!" Halt had his mouth open as he tried to comprehend what his apprentice had just said, but he only picked out a few words. His eyes widened as he pieced together what he had just thought he heard. Will was shaking and was clearly distressed, even more so when Halt spoke.

"Hang on, let me run this by you. You fell asleep and then woke up to find that you had murdered somebody with your bow, but you preferred not to, and then you lost your mind...?" Halt said.

Will stopped trembling as he realised that he had talked much too fast for any human being to understand him, and he said, much slower this time, "Halt, I lost my bow."

He clenched his eyes shut as if awaiting some sort of unknown punishment that would make him _actually_ lose his mind when Halt stood up, with a slightly malicious grin and said with his most evil voice possible, "Will, you _lost_ your _bow_? Unforgivable. Ok, forget Ranger training, you had a few weeks to go, but you have ruined it now, bye." Will looked up and Halt realised that maybe he had pushed it too far. Will was whimpering, still adding to the sad little puppy effect, when Halt decided to end the joke. "Actually, if you would care to stop crying, I stole your bow, and burnt it." Will stopped crying, but had such a puzzled look on his face; he thought he was going mad. Halt doesn't burn bows! Or does he? No he doesn't! Or _does _he? No!

Halt saw the obvious conflict of thought and emotion on the young man's face and decided to simply come clean. "I was actually working on a long bow for your birthday, but I decided to play a prank on you before I did, so I stole your bow. An impish grin crept onto his face as he saw Will drop to his knees in relief. _Yep_ he thought, _it's all part of the job._

**Yay! Finished! I had fun writing this one, and if Peta is reading this, yes I wrote all the puppy references because of your insatiable hunger for cute little dogs. Even though Will isn't a dog... Anyway, you get the idea. All about imagery, yeah... Soo yeah, second fanfic, please review so that I can know how good/bad/wonderful/horrible/average/mediocre/horrifying/calming/hilarious/depressing it is!**

**Frogata, over and out! (this is going to become a new thing with me, I know it.)**


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